The Enggano:

archaic foragers and their interactions

with the Austronesian world









[DRAFT CIRCULATED FOR COMMENT]



Roger Blench
Kay Williamson Educational Foundation
8, Guest Road
Cambridge CB1 2AL
United Kingdom
Voice/ Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687
Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7967-696804
E-mail R.Blench@odi.org.uk
http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm



This printout: September 9, 2009
Roger Blench The problem of the Enggano language Circulated for comment
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 1
2. Comparative wordlist ................................................................................................................................. 2
3. Analysis and conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 8
Appendix 1. Cultural evidence..................................................................................................................... 12


TABLES

Table 1. Enggano wordlist with commentary ................................................................................................... 3


Roger Blench The Enggano: archaic foragers in an Austronesian world Circulated for comment
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1 Introduction
The island of Enggano, off the west coast of Sumatra represents a major linguistic and historical puzzle. Its
inhabitants are said to be Austronesian speakers, yet their language shows few cognates with mainstream
Austronesian vocabulary. The inhabitants were apparently using Stone Age technology until the eighteenth
or nineteenth centuries, when expanding trade brought them metals. They had no cloth, grew no cereals, but
only vegetative crops and lived in beehive-shaped houses on stilts, resembling those of the Nicobar islands
and quite unlike any peoples in neighbouring regions. There is a considerable early traveller literature in
Dutch cited in the bibliography
1
, but very little in the way of ethnographic accounts except Modigliani (1894)
which was based on a brief visit. Around the turn of the twentieth century, when missionaries were gearing
up to convert the population, the former systems of housing and social organisation were in breakdown and
it is hard now to reconstruct their exact nature. In recent years Keurs (2006, 2008) has been the main
ethnographer to take an interest in this topic. However, he has not focused on the history of the island nor on
the likely origin of its idiosyncratic culture.

Linguistically speaking, the main source for the Enggano language is Khler (1939, 1940, 1973, 1975, 1987).
Although Khler also published extensive material on the languages of Nias (Sikue) and Simeulue, he seems
not to have been a trained linguist. His Enggano Wrterverzeichnis was published after his death and
remains a problematic text with some unexplained symbols as well as incorporated morphology in the
lexical entries (see Prentice 1989 for comment on some of these problems). Despite this, the Enggano
dictionary is a document of major significance and the transcription, broadly phonetic, is certainly usable.
The other source for Enggano is Kaslim et al. (1987) which gives comparative citations for two different
villages. Both the phonology and semantics of these transcriptions looks uncertain, and the actual lexemes
often do not agree with Khler. Helfrich (1893) appears to be the source some of the earlier attempts to place
Enggano relied upon.

It is unclear to what extent further research on Enggano could reproduce or clear up some of these problems;
the 2009 Ethnologue states there are 1500 speakers of the language but this figures may simply be a census
figure for inhabitants of the island. Keurs (2006) observes that more than 60% of the population are migrants.

Linguists have been perplexed by the affiliation of Enggano; the latest Ethnologue includes it under Malayo-
Polynesian, but the text states Not conclusively established as an Austronesian language, rather than an
isolate with Austronesian loans. Dyen (1962), probably the first author to consider this, counted a 15.4%
critical percentage (i.e. cognacy) with other Austronesian languages and treated Enggano as an individual
branch of PMP. Even a figure as high as this seems optimistic; Enggano lacks almost all the basic
Austronesian lexemes usually employed to assign a language to a branch of the family. For reasons
described below, cognacy judgments will be highly idiosyncratic to individual authors. Since then, apart
from passing references, it seems that little has been done to try and explain the features of this language,
which is utterly exceptional in the general realm of Austronesian.

What might account for the situation? There seem to be three hypotheses that should be considered;

a) Enggano is Austronesian but complex morphophonemic changes have obscured its lexical
relationships with mainstream vocabulary
b) Enggano is non-Austronesian with an overlay of Austronesian borrowings of various periods
c) Enggano is a mixed language with elements from Austroasiatic, Austronesian and possibly other
languages whose affiliation is obscured by the transcription system

Khler (1942-45) seems to have considered this possibility and apparently regarded Enggano as a
Mischsprache.


1
Many of these references I have harvested from Khler (1987) and the publications of Keurs, updated with more
recent materials
Roger Blench The Enggano: archaic foragers in an Austronesian world Circulated for comment
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Other islands, not so far from Sumatra, do have very ancient and distinctive populations; the Andamanese,
whose languages are isolates, and Nicobarese, a branch of Austroasiatic. There is no archaeological record
of settlement of Enggano, but it could well represent a historical layer much older than the Neolithic
expansion of Austronesian. It is striking that Enggano appears to show no special relationship with the other
languages of the islands off the west coast of Sumatra; Nias and Mentawei show more obvious links with the
languages of the Sumatran mainland. The people of Siberut had clearly undergone some cultural change in
isolation and some groups in the interior live a near-foraging lifestyle. Nonetheless, their culture was more
obviously a product of a migration from the Sumatran mainland. The deviant nature of Enggano does indeed
appear to be the product of an interaction between long-resident foragers and a relatively recent AN
incursion.

This paper then is a fishing expedition such as was once beloved of the Engganese, to present a wordlist of
Enggano and send it out to scholars who might detect lexical cognates in languages they know in order to
make progress in resolving the mystery of its affiliations and origins.

2. Comparative wordlist
Table 1 presents wordlist of Enggano, drawn from Khler (1987) with additional material quoted from
Kaslim et al. (1987) [coded K in the table below] quoted in the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
(ABDV) where this differs. The English translation is given first and then the German entries, the Enggano
forms and finally a comparative commentary. The main sources for comparative Austronesian lexicon are
the Comparative Dictionary of Austronesian (Tryon et al. 1995), the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary
(Blust ined.) and the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (Greenhill et al. 2008). I have cross-cited
from these sources rather than checking back to the originals, hence I reproduce any errors they may contain.
Where the commentary says not Austronesian it implies I have been able to check the Enggano gloss
against a large comparative wordlist without finding any obvious comparisons.

The source of much of the lexical data in Khler (1987) was the extraction of lexemes from the previously
published texts with little morphological analysis. As a consequence, it is sometimes difficult to be clear
about the root under the accumulated weight of incorporated morphemes. In this case, the much shorter
citation in Kaslim et al. (1987) can be helpful. For example, the verb to see [sehen] is listed as;

kabapa, kipn

whereas Kaslim et al. (1987) have p which seems much more credible. Differences in transcription make it
difficult at times to establish clearly whether the two sources are trying to represent the same word. However,
it is assumed that;

a) the e- prefix in nouns is a determiner
b) that the ki- prefix in verbs is an infinitive marker or similar, and that probably ba- or pa- infix is
another verbal marker
c) that the frequent verbal suffix or similar is not part of the root

To clarify this in assessing cognacy, the likely non-root elements are marked in red in the entries in Table 1.

Even apart from these difficulties, Enggano has eroded from the front, and the loss of C
1
and often C
2
makes
the identification of cognates a chancy business without more reliable data on historical morphology. The
frequent nasalisation in Khler and its absence in Kaslim suggests that it may be non-phonemic.

Some lexical items are very stable in Austronesian such as eye or five. Others, such as fog or cook are
highly variable and with nearly 1000 languages to choose from it is possible to find a lookalike somewhere
in the Austronesian realm. The parallels suggested here are with the putative root I assume to be concealed
within the morphological baggage. No doubt many of them will prove to be spurious or untestable; even a
relatively coherent phylum such as Austronesian proves to have a great deal of lexical diversity at lower
levels.
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With these caveats, Table 1 presents an Enggano wordlist, drawn from Khler but focusing heavily on
common wordlist items as well as additional words connected with economic plants, fishing and the sea.

Table 1. Enggano wordlist with commentary
English German Enggano Comment
anchor Anker epk
areca palm areca eupo
arm arm eparahaodi
ashes Asche eah[a]oi, eapuuda
udopo
not Austronesian
back Rcken ekah, ekk, epou,
ekahupou
not Austronesian
banana Banane eito, ekibha
bat Fledermaus ekadaboa
belly Bauch ekitai not Austronesian
bird Vogel I ekp not Austronesian
bird Vogel II eburubur < Malay buru
birth Geburt eam, eaada
bite v. beien kixau [K ha] ? eroded form of kaVu e.g. Cheke Holo kathu and
similar Solomonic languages
black schwarz kahedo, kaa kh,
ka
n.b. ABVD has kak'eh. not Austronesian
blood Blut ekiaki not Austronesian
blow v. blasen kipaici, kapoi [K apo] sound symbolism makes identifying cognates
uncertain but cf. Solomonic Patpatar puh, Maringe,
Cheke Holo ifu, Mono ihu etc.
boat Boot edohao
bone Knochen e not obviously Austronesian, but a reduced form
like this could be cognate with any number of
forms
breast Brust ekoko not Austronesian
burn v.t. brennen kipabha not Austronesian
buy v. kaufen kiodi, kahaodi cf. widespread Solomonic voli, foli (e.g. Bugotu,
Nggela, Lau and many others)
carrion aas earooa
cassava ebao, ekikoha
chew v. Vorkauen e[pah] amai appears to be metathesis of Bajaw mapa
child Kind eada, eara, epae cf. common Austronesian ana child
choose v. aussuchen ka[a] kn cf. New Ireland e.g. Tabar kinane
climb v. erklettern kede, kin cf. Tabar [New Ireland] kide,
cloud Wolke ekai udahauhu not Austronesian
coconut Kokos ep, ekama, ekaruku
cocoyam Taro epokea
cold kalt kaa

not obviously Austronesian, but lexemes too

diverse to be sure
come v. kommen k[ab]ai, ei unless Solomonic languages mai with loss of first
consonant
cook kochen kapuda, kababuda [K
pahbu]
semantic scatter bake, boil makes this a hard
gloss for broad comparison. cf. isolated Molima
[Papuan Tip] bude,
count zhlen kik, kan [K 'anm] cf. New Georgia Lunga ai, Simbo, Luqa ae,
cry, weep v. weinen k[ab]edo [K bbr] not Austronesian
cut, hack hacken kiikn [k hk] not Austronesian
dark dunkel kahedo, kaakh,
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English German Enggano Comment
kapp
day Tag ekahao, ehapa [K
(h)ari]
not Austronesian
Derris
elliptica
Fischgift ekh, ekakaroku
die sterben kaao [K kaa], kakudu not Austronesian. One of the most diagnostic
Austronesian roots
dig graben k[ah]in, kin [K
nam]
not Austronesian
dog Hund ebeo, eayedi [K b ] not Austronesian
dream Traum eanx not Austronesian
drink v. trinken <it [K kahit] not Austronesian
duck Ente ebeb < Malay bebek
dust Staub dbu [K] ? loan from Melayu dbu, also found in Borneo
languages, i.e. Tunjung
ear Ohr ekadixa not Austronesian
earth/soil Erde edopo, ehuhu, en
eat essen ki, kamn [K no] many Austronesian languages have o as a second
element
ebb tide Ebbe eoki, eaooki uu
eel aal ekm

egg Ei eara ukiadobu not Austronesian
excrement Exkremente ekai
eye Auge ebaka not Austronesian
fall fallen kidapu, kipahepk,
kipakukuo, kinnn, [K
uy]
cf. Blablanga, Maringe khk
father Vater am cf. PCMP *ama
feather Feder epurudui (cf. hair) cf. PMP *bulu
Ficus
religiosa
ekabodi
fig tree Feigenbaum en
fire Feuer eobi ? cf. PMP *hapuy
fish Fisch I eaiyo, epaadia Yapen has dia for fish
fish Fisch II yay ? reduction of forms such as Bajaw dayah
fish-hook Fischhaken em
fishing-net Fischnetz ekabuaiyo
fishing-
spear
Fischspeer ekiakuna
five fnf adiba, riba, liba ? < Austronesian *lima
flow flieen kiabue cf. Solomonic, Temotu group Buma, Vano,
Tanimbili pu
flute Flte e[pa]i xiu
fly (n.) Fliege ehebo, em
fly v. fliegen kep [K hp] not Austronesian
fog I [K] kabut < Lampung or similar
fog II [K] kepp
foot Fu eae, epakaaiyo
forest II hopu K cf. widespread Solomonic wapu, e.g. Santa Ana,
Kahua, Saa
forest, bush Wald ekue not Austronesian
four vier aopa ? from Malay ampat or another Austronesian
language. Also borrowed into Aslian
friend Freund n, hobea
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English German Enggano Comment
frog Frosch ep, epin
garden Garten epia
give birth gebren ea[a] ara, kim
go, walk gehen k,

cf. West New Guinea e.g. Waropen, Marau ra,

Gedaged, Nehan la
grandchild Enkel edahao, ekhp
grass I Gras eomai not Austronesian
grass II ap not Austronesian
guest Gast ekitabo
hair I Haare epududui = hair of head
hair II Haare yur [K] ? *PCMP *qulu
hand Hand eapo not Austronesian
he, it er kia
head Kopf eudu, euru, eph but
[K] eyu(rup)
cf. PCMP *qulu, which has reflexes such as
Ngadha ulu
hear hren dohoi not Austronesian
hit schlagen iti, ici, iji, [K ab] not Austronesian
house Haus euba not Austronesian unless Philippines forms like
balay are cognate
hunt jagen kikakarai, kiparahau,
kiodi
not Austronesian
husband Ehemann dadu, dar [K] not Austronesian
I, me ich ua, [K] ? Austronesian. Many languages have forms like
au < aku, but not easy to see a better source
intestines kita [K] not Austronesian unless forms such as Selaru
[Maluku] katin are cognate. But see under liver
iron Eisen eaau, ebet, edobu
joint Gelenk ep
know v. wissen kipohoyaa [K
pako'a], kiphai,
kipaka
not Austronesian
laugh lachen kikahai [K kkah],
koooi
cf. Solomonic Temotu Buma, Teana keke
leaf Blatt epn, epuru not Austronesian
leg Bein eae, aa [K] reduced form which can be compared numerous
Austronesian etymons, such as Bajawa nai, or
Yapen group, Motu ae
lie down liegen kan, kuuoho cf. Molima [Papuan Tip] eno,
liver Leber enn not Austronesian. K has kita, baham, both of which
look like errors (see intestines)
lizard Eidechse edea, h,
ekamnw

load (boat) einladen kipa k
louse I Laus en not Austronesian
louse II h[y]up [K] not Austronesian
man Mann emn scattered Austronesian cognates in Halmahera
languages, e.g. Buli man, also Balinese muani.
mango eokio
marine crab enk
marriage
(woman)
Ehe eaaradua
meat Fleisch eheda [K hidh],
ekain
not Austronesian
mist Dunst ekan o, eoaba
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English German Enggano Comment
moon Mond ekan

, kaa [K] Solomonic languages have kene and similar while

some Lampung dialects have knawat. ? a loan
from Lampung
Morinda
citrifolia
eodu
mosquito Mcke ekiao not Austronesian
mother Mutter n, nh, [K maa] Lampung has probable sources for both these
forms, Lampung Nyo m: and Lampung Api in.
mountain Berg ekohoi
mouth Mund ekaa [K kaa] not Austronesian
name Name en

[K ni] Western Oceanic languages have numerous

lookalikes, e.g. Bilibil ian or Gedaged nan. More
remotely Banjarese Malay aran.
neck Hals e, [K hanu] cf. Arosi [Solomonic] uu-na
night Nacht ep, [K karpo'as ] K probably incorporates spurious morphology.
Apparent cognates with Western Oceanic, e.g.
Kayapulau poni, Saliba boni.
nose Nase epn [K panum] Solomonic languages have numerous lookalikes,
e.g. Areare, Oroha panona.
oil, grease l I em cf. PCMP *miak
oil, grease l II w [K] not obviously Austronesian but a form like this
could be reduced from CVCV attestations such as
Philippines tava
one eins kahaii, [K kahakh] cf. Cheke Holo [Solomonic] kaha, though also see
Bajaw dakau
pea Erbse ekac
person Person ekabake [K kakh] probably not Austronesian although Vitu kaka and
Solomonic languages have ka element in person
words, i.e. Vano lamuka, Tanema anuka.
pig Schwein ebooa ? cf. *PAN babuy which has reflexes such as
Wolio bawu which might lead to this form
Piper betel epuru ukuo
Piper
nigrum
ekodokodo
plant v. pflanzen koo, kitahaa perhaps related to widespread reflexes of PCMP
*tanm
pound v. zerstampfen kip, kam cf. widespread Micronesian *ppau (although
sound-symbolism may be involved here)
rain Regen eb, [K be] cf. Tanema [Solomonic] emba, Mussau baoo
rat Ratte ehuao, ekn, epeha,
euiui
No obvious Austronesian cognates, but species of
rat are many. K has Malay loanword tikus.
recommend empfehlen kipa bohei
river Flu eb, ebedoa
road Weg eekoa [K (h)ko],
eparabia
cf. Teanu [Solomonic] anoko. Other Solomonic
languages have final ka, e.g. Babatana zuka
root Wurzel ep not Austronesian
root II akar [K] recent borrowing cf. Javanese akar
rope I Tau ekiio cf. Xaracuu kii though probbaly coincidence
rope II kadi [K] looks like a loanword but from what? Malay etc.
tali
sail Segel edayada, epa upo
salt I Salz eue, ekitikiti uue
salt II Salz ekanm [K kanam] looks like a loanword e.g. Bajaw, Malayic garam
but sound shifts hard to explain unless this is
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English German Enggano Comment
archaic
sand Sand edoodoa = edoorao [K
dora], ehahao
not Austronesian
say I sagen ua [K uh] ? cf. Saa unua
say II sagen pana [K] cf. widespread paranga in New Georgia languages
[Solomonic]
sea See en [high], eparoba
[low]

sea
cucumber
epakui
sea eagle eeba
sea II iyt [K] ? weakening of dilaut (Malay, Bajaw etc.)
see sehen ki cf. PCMP kita, retained in Oceanic and Solomonic
see v. sehen kabapa [K p], kipn not Austronesian
settlement Dorf ekaaudara
sew nhen kacicia [K ya], kikeho could be related widespread reduplicated forms,
such as Mouk sisix or Cheke Holo susuki
shoot schieen kipopooki,
k[ip]abooki
not Austronesian unless with Madara [New
Ireland] paneko throw spear
shoulder Schulter emm not Austronesian
sit setzen k[aba]eo, kipahenk cf. Solomonic, e.g. Blablanga hnkr, Saa neku,
skin Haut eudi reflex of widespread Austronesian kuli, with loss of
velar, eg. Iliun [Celebic] uli also Kwara'ae
(Solomonic) 'uli'uli
sky Himmel e edahauhu not Austronesian. K has lait, a recent loan from
Bajaw or similar.
sleep schlafen km, kan, kuoho [K
wh]
not Austronesian
smoke I Rauch ep, eoaba cf. Tolo and others [Solomonic] pugu, also
Nlmwa [New Caledonia] pum
smoke II Rauch ekan [K kano] cf. Babatana [Solomonic] kanu, Ririo konok
snake I Schlange ean ? cf. Bajaw paaa with extreme consonant loss
snake II [K ap'ukh] not Austronesian
song Gesang eahoroa
spider Spinne epu ukah not Austronesian
spit spucken kahito [K iit(h)] ? Malayic e.g. Javanese idu, Lampung itop
stab stecken kitahaa [K ha] cf. Nissan [Solomonic] haka, Tanna hai,
stand v. stehen kabeu, kin not Austronesian
star I Stern eaperuau cf. New Ireland languages, e.g. Tinag papara, Ririo
paraat.
star II Stern ekaomm [K komim] ? cf. Bajaw mamaw.
steal stehlen kabeho, kaba baki cf. widespread Solomonic (h)iko
stick I Stock eooba, em not Austronesian
stick I K ku reduced from Malayic kayu
stone Stein eea [K ia] not Austronesian
suck saugen koh, kikoko cf. Bajaw kokomot,
suck saugen K hopi cf. Madara, Tabar nopi,
sugar-cane eamai
sweet
potato
ebaba
swim schwimmen kik, kika ? cf. Tigak and other New Ireland kakas(i)
tail Schwanz eio [yi] cf. West New Guinea languages e.g. Mekeo, Motu
iu, Sewa wiyu.
they sie ki, da-, n-, la- many possible cognates, none certain due to
Roger Blench The Enggano: archaic foragers in an Austronesian world Circulated for comment
8
English German Enggano Comment
diversity of forms
they II K h'em'e not Austronesian
thing Ding edobu
think denken kapan [ekitai] ? cf. Longgu han,
thirst Durst ekixea
three Drei akodu, kolu, koru not Austronesian unless t k when *tolu is
cognate
three K akt not Austronesian
throw werfen kipakai, kaho obuaa,
kipa~a
not Austronesian
throw werfen [K oy] cf. Lau and related ui
tongue Zunge edio [K di] not Austronesian
tooth Zahn eahau, ekaa [K kaa] cf. isolated Papuan Tip e.g. Saliba kawa,
trap (pigs) Falle ekuhua, enp
turtle ekaboa, ekuha
two zwei adua, rua, lua < Malayic dua
vomit erbrechen keo, ka ? cf. Papuan Tip languages e.g. Lala e'ula
water, river Wasser eb [K b] cf. Bajaw boe, isolated Manus bo, Serili (Maluku)
be.
wife Ehefrau edahebua not Austronesian
wife ena [K] ? < Bajaw Lemo nd
wild
breadfruit
ehobu
wind Wind ekiu [K ki()] not Austronesian unless isolated Torau
[Solomonic] kiu is cognate
wing Flgel epaepa [K yap'ap] ? cf. PMP *panij though similar forms found widely
across the world. Also possibly reduced and
reduplicated from Bajaw kapi
woman Frau ehuda [K kakh iudh],
epuaiyo
not Austronesian
worm Wurm ep, ehodo, eknp

,
ekpn [K kopn],
emakna
not Austronesian
year taun [K] < Lampung or Bajaw taun
you sg. du oo [K ari]
you sg. K ari cf. Solomonic e.g. Babatana, Senga re.

3. Analysis and conclusion
Enggano has only a very small proportion of it basic vocabulary that is unambiguously Austronesian. Many
common roots are absent. This suggests strongly that external cognates are a series of loanwords dating from
different periods of contact with the island. With this in mind, I propose the following hypothetical history
of Engganese, subject to further commentary.

a) Engganese is underlying a forager language of unknown affiliation. Comparison with Nicobarese and
other Austroasiatic have not yielded any obvious cognates
b) Despite this, Enggano culture seems to share some cultural features with Nicobarese populations
c) It possibly shares residual vocabulary with other Sumatran west coast islands, but this is yet to be
determined.
Roger Blench The Enggano: archaic foragers in an Austronesian world Circulated for comment
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d) It has probably interacted with Austronesian populations at least four levels;

i. a primary wave of contact in the early era of Austronesian expansion
ii. contact with Bajaw or Orang Laut sea nomads
iii. contact with Malayic languages
iv. contact with Sumatran mainland languages such as Lampung

Points ii-iv will probably not be controversial, although there is some interest in the fact that some Enggano
cognates seem to preserve voicing differences in consonants which may point to archaisms preserved in
borrowings. However, the nature and timing of early Austronesian contact is more difficult to establish.
From the cognates listed in Table 1, Enggano may share many more lexemes with Western Oceanic and in
particular Solomonic than with more obvious sources such as Philippines and Borneo languages. This seems
initially unlikely and one explanation is simply the erroneous identification of such cognates on my part. Is it
possible historically? Under more traditional views of Austronesian dispersal, where Oceanic was the final
product of a series of complex splits in Western Malayo-Polynesian it would seem highly improbable. But
archaeological evidence is increasingly pointing to a very rapid early dispersal following the exit from
Taiwan without the intervening stages formerly posited (cf. Donohue & Denham in press). It is at least
conceivable that the same strand of rapid migration that created Oceanic and in particular the Solomonic
languages also included a wayward expedition south and west. This may seem an improbably extended line
of dispersal, but the rapid movement eastward to form Oceanic is also similarly lengthy. We know,
moreover, at the same time, speakers of PMP were heading eastward to Micronesia to settle the Marianas, so
in terms of maritime technology this is not impossible. Even so, it should lead us to expect that there would
have been analogous early settlement in south Sumatra and possibly on other islands west of Sumatra. The
later expansion of Malayic would have largely overwritten these more tentative migrations, and they might
only remain on an island like Enggano, easily bypassed by larger more aggressive expansions. The
connection with the Nicobars remains to be explained; but it would not be impossible for Pleistocene
populations to populate these islands, since we know they reached the Andamans.


Bibliography

[N.B. I do not claim to have sought out and read all the references below, but include them for future
reference. They are a good illustration of how weak the internet remains for some topics; almost none show
up on Google Scholar for example].

Anon. [Pruys van der Hoeven, A.] 1870. Verslag van ene reis van den assistent-resident van Benkulen naar
het eiland Engano. Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 19, 165-200.
Brakel, J.H. van, et al. (ed.) 1987. Budaya Indonesia. Arts and Crafts in Indonesia, Amsterdam, Koninklijk
Instituut voor de Tropen.
Crisp, J. 1799. An account of the inhabitants of the Poggy Islands lying off Sumatra. Asiatick Researches.
6:77-91.
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Appendix 1. Cultural evidence

The beehive houses of Enggano were noticed as early as 1778 by Miller. The cover image of this paper and
below shows one of these houses as represented in Modigliani (1894). Guillemards review of Modigliani
observes;

He does, however, find a marked resemblance to the Nicobarese, not only in physical appearance, nut
also with regard to customs and architecture, and gives illustrations in support of this view which are
rather striking, though more evidence is of course necessary to promote the theory from the region of
conjecture into that of probability.
Guillemard (1894:157)

Below are given images of Enggano and Nicobarese houses for comparison.


Source: Modigliani (1894) and Man (1889)